24 out of 44 forest fires put out in Russia’s Far East

KHABAROVSK, May 21 (Itar-Tass) — Twenty-four out of 44 forest fires were put out in Russia’s Far East over the past day. The taiga is burning in five federal constituents, namely the Amur and Magadan regions, the Jewish Autonomous Area, the Khabarovsk and Primorye territories, a source in the forestry department in the Far Eastern Federal District told Itar-Tass on Monday. Some 569 people, 86 ground machinery units and15 aircraft are involved in the fire-fighting of taiga fires.

The fire situation remains difficult in the Amur Region, where nine fires were reported by Monday morning. The fires threaten to settlements in the Amur Region. “The crown forest fire was spreading to the village, only sharp changes of the winds saved people from a big mischief,” head of the rural council in Algach, the Zeya district, Alexei Malyugin said. Chalbachi is under fire threat now and the main fire-fighting forces rushed there. On Monday, the winds blew the fire smoke away, the fire is raging on the hill between Algach and Chalbachi. The bulldozers keep fencing the fire area, extending the mineralized belts over these settlements.

The forest is burning along the Zeya-Tygda road in the Zeya and Magdagachi districts. The smoke screen is veiling the road. The drivers said about wild animals, which go out on the road, running away from the fire.

The forestry department in the Far Eastern Federal District reported that from the beginning of the fire-prone season in the federal district 822 fires on an area of 22,193 hectares were reported. Over the same period in the previous year 939 fires were reported with much larger damages. By the end of May 2011 over 136,000 hectares of forests burnt down in the Russian Far East.